Act 3 (Jack & Louisa)

We rated this book:

$16.99

Authors Andrew Keenan-Bolger and Kate Wetherhead have contributed another charming installment to their Jack & Louisa series. This book is the third in the series, and the story finds mutual lovers of musical theatre experiencing the excitement of summer camp with other MTNs (or “musical theatre nerds”). When they return from camp, Jack wants to direct a show to enter in a competition that their camp friends will attend, while Louisa wants to audition for the community theatre musical. Which theatrical pursuit will they agree to explore? While grappling with artistic choices, the main characters also find themselves dealing with new romantic situations. A previously annoying classmate takes on a new appeal for Louisa, and Jack realizes his attraction to a boy from camp. Although the book’s focus is on rehearsals and performance, the authors handle real life experiences of self-discovery with sensitivity. Readers will be interested to know that the authors have both performed on Broadway in multiple roles, so the theatrical inspiration for the series emerges from genuine knowledge. As a former drama teacher and a lifelong MTN, I have enjoyed reading all of the Jack & Louisa books very much.

In the wreckage after World War III and its green bombs, small towns have emerged. Hope lives in just such a town, called White Rock. Unable to invent, as her town expects from all its citizens, Hope
struggles to fit in. Because of her lack of inventing skill, Hope chooses to invest more time in the other skills that she finds strength in, like sky jumping into the Bomb’s Breath, the toxic band of air left by the bombs. However, when bandits invade the town, seeking priceless antibiotics, Hope’s daredevil nature may just save her world

.A book so exhilarating, it could be compared to actual sky diving, this book had realistic characters, exciting plot and an interesting setting. Hope is a great protagonist whose perspective is often the same as the reader’s perspective on things. I like this because it makes the entire story seem possible. The content and vocabulary render the book friendly to all listeners, and the plot holds readers tight and does not let go till the end of the story. I gave it five stars for an immersive experience that included humor and action in a child-friendly manner.

Fallout is about the 1962 Cuban missile crisis and a family that were the only people that built a bomb shelter to prepare for the possibility of war. The rest of the town came running to their home when a bomb was dropped in the middle of the night. The family was not completely prepared, however; they did not have water or communication yet. This led to many problems in the relationships with the townspeople as they became angry with their surroundings or lack of essentials. The family tried to stop the townspeople from invading their shelter, but they were still able to enter. I give Fallout five stars. It was based on something that actually occurred and showed us what might have happened if things had turned out differently. I liked the change in point of view from the past to the present. It adds an interesting effect to the story. I would recommend Fallout to people who like historical fiction, especially about war. It was pretty easy to read and once I got started, I didn’t want to put it down.

Plant Your Path is for people who like to play the video game, “Plants versus Zombies.” Just like in the game, you have to defeat zombies by choosing which plants to plant so that the zombies won’t eat your brains. You start out with a pea shooter on your lawn. The book then asks the reader to choose between two different plants to plant next. The reader turns to the indicated page to find out what happens next and to make a new choice. There are 27 different endings based on the choices you make. In many of them, the zombies will eat your brains, but in some of them, you will save the day. The adventure includes Crazy Dave and many of your favorite plants and zombies.

I would recommend this book to all kids who play Plants versus Zombies. I don’t recommend it to kids who aren’t familiar with the game because it wouldn’t really make any sense. If you do play the game, it’s interesting and it is fun to make the choices to see what happens.

First, I wish I had read the other three books in this series first, though you don’t have to, but I really think you should. For younger kids who might think this book is too big for them, it is not. It is thick, but the words are pretty big and that makes it easier to reach. There are nineteen chapters that help break up the reading and I wish they had put more pictures then two. I know I like pictures and I think it helps make the reading easier for a lot of people. Some of the names are just too hard to say and keep saying and I am not sure why all of these animal books always give animals the weirdest and hardest names.

A cat, a bird, and a frog are the main characters who all have some type of magic. Together they save the queendom only to have stuff go wrong again and they have to go on an adventure to try and prove they are innocent. These three animals can be so funny and kind of remind me of Harry, Hermione, and Ron. If you like Harry Potter and the Warriors, then you will definitely love this book!

I found this book really hard to get through and and I had to put it down and pick it up a lot as the story didn’t really fit me. All I could think about was this is what it must be like to read a fake story of Pokemon like when Cars came out and someone copied it trying to make people think it was the same thing. I think kids who really like Dragon Ballz and Pokemon might like this book. Sometimes it seemed the author spent too much time describing stuff and putting so many verbs and adjectives in every single sentence; it just made it hard to get into the story.

I think it would have been a much better graphic novel to tell the story more with pictures and to not have so many sentences overflowing with description. It would easily catch people’s attention and tell a story even without words so even kids who are just learning to read could read it. I don’t think I would spend my money on this book and would have just checked it out from the library instead.